Hey, I'm not dead! I know, I'm surprised too!

I wanted to open this chapter by apologizing for taking so long with it. I have just finished school, so I should have more time to work. That being said, I have recently found myself with a lack of motivation, and would like to ask you guys to review this or PM me to help keep me going, because the only thing I get from this is your appreciation, and I think I just need to see that to help me work faster and be more motivated. Thanks for the months of service from all of you!

Yumi and William exited the elevator to be greeted by the rest of the group.

"Great," Jeremy said, turning his chair away from the monitors, "now that everyone is here, I can explain what's happening."

"Is it an activated tower?" William asked.

"No, although at this point I wish it was." Jeremy answered. "X.A.N.A. is pumping a massive amount of energy into the Siberian base we found a while ago."

"You mean the one with all the big robots?" Odd interrupted, recollecting his battle with them when he and Aelita went.

"Yes, Odd, and that makes this all the more dangerous. I don't know what X.A.N.A. plans on doing with those robots, but it can't be good, so I'm sending all of you in to go shutdown the facility entirely." Jeremy explained.

"Won't that leave the Skid defenseless?" Aelita asked.

"Normally it would, but I have recently made some major modifications to the Skid, most importantly adding a shield powered through the tower it's docked onto." Jeremy replied. "But there is another problem. The manufacturing robots in the factory have been activated by X.A.N.A. and he has built something very strange, and I would rather not have to figure out what it does, so time is of the essence."

"Then what are we standing around for?" Odd said. "let's get to Lyoko!"

—

"Scanner Aelita, scanner William."

"Transfer Aelita, transfer Wiliam."

"Virtualization!"

Aelita and William landed in Sector 5, joining Odd, Yumi and Ulrich who stood ready to head to the Skid.

"Head to the Skid, I doubt X.A.N.A. will give us much extra time." Jeremy said through his headset, Franz standing behind him.

The gang ran as fast as they could towards the hanger bay of the Skid. About halfway there, Yumi spoke up.

"Hey, Ulrich..."

"Yeah, Yumi, what is it?" He replied.

"Ulrich... I wanted to tell you that... that I'm..."

Unexpectedly, Jeremy butted into their conversation.

"Guys, I hate to break the conversation, but you need to focus on the mission at hand."

"I'll just tell you later." Yumi said.

"Okay." Ulrich said, turning back ahead, disappointment filling him as he longed for her words so much, and came so close, but they faded at the last second.

Conversation aside, the group spend the next minute traveling the randomized terrain of Sector 5. As they reached the Skid, Jeremy opened the program to energize them into their vessel.

"Everyone in place?" He asked, one button push away from sending them in.

"All good down here, Jeremy." Aelita replied.

Jeremy pressed the enter key on his keyboard, sending the team into their individual compartments. Aelita got adjusted in her seat, then moved her hands to the controls.

"Preparing to undock."

"Okay, I'm sending you the coordinates of the replica now." Jeremy said, entering their coordinates from the map.

Aelita led the Skid out of Sector 5 as Jeremy disabled the information flow to the Desert Sector. They moved a safe distance away from the core, then Aelita dropped the Skid into the Digital Sea, beginning their trek towards the Replika.

Odd looked out at the scenery of the Digital Sea that stood around him, engulfing them in its enormous presence.

"You know, I've never gotten used to how creepy it looks down here." Odd commented, causing William to laugh.

"Creepy? No way, this place is cool!" William said, mowing up closer to the glass to give himself a better view. "The way everything is just so big and crazy, it's something a person almost can't comprehend."

"I just like it because it's tranquil. The blue is just calming." Aelita commented, adding to the existing conversation.

"Hey, Ulrich." Yumi said, praying not to get interrupted this time.

"Yeah?" The German boy replied.

"As I tried to say before, I wanted to let you know that I..."

"Guys, you've got company! Monsters on their way!" Jeremy announced.

'X.A.N.A., couldn't you wait a few more seconds?' Yumi thought, her apology to Ulrich again interrupted.

"Looks like a large swarm on Kongre ahead. Looks like X.A.N.A. really doesn't want us to get there." Jeremy said, counting 30+ monsters on his screen.

"Well, let's get in there!" William said, prepped for battle.

"Aww man, I hate those piranhas. Do we have to?" Odd complained.

"Yes, Odd, we do." Aelita said, adding to his sarcasm. She presses multiple buttons on the keypad, then the Nav Skids were released from the main body.

The four got into position ahead of the Skid, arming themselves for the battle.

"Here they come!" Ulrich said, bracing himself as he saw a massive formation of monsters ahead of him.